Chapter 351

Chapter 351: Sealed City

For the protectors of Frostholm, this night was doomed to be sleepless.

The dark clouds over Dagger Island were still coiling overhead. The strange, returned wreck of the Sea Swallow was still moving back and forth on the water outside the Harbor. And right at this critical moment, the Sea Mist fleet, wrapped in countless dreadful legends, had come to the city-state’s doorstep.

The Undying fleet bearing the curse had already finished gathering. It stayed in silence at the edge of the coastal waters. No one knew why they had come. No one knew what they would do next.

Harbor Defense Commander Lister had slept for less than an hour around midnight before he once again appeared in his command office. There he met several other commanders with tight faces and a confidential secretary who had just hurried over from City Hall.

The secretary, a man in a fitted blue coat and gold-rimmed glasses who looked barely over thirty, stood up at once when he saw Lister. Beads of sweat glistened on his forehead: “Colonel, the Governor wants the newest and most accurate information—does the Sea Mist fleet have any chance of launching an attack?”

“If that is all the Governor wants to know, then yes. There has been such a chance every single day for the past half century,” Lister said. He took out a vial of stimulant essence and relied on the sharp scent to push back his fatigue, then glanced at the confidential secretary. “The Sea Mist fleet did not appear today for the first time. It has always been there. Frostholm and that ‘steel Vice Admiral’ have never had a peace treaty.”

The general commander was clearly in a bad mood. The secretary realized at once that his question was pointless and quickly changed his wording: “How prepared are we?”

“All coastal guns are in battle configuration. The fleet under General Galton is forming an interception line to the north and northwest of the Sea Mist fleet. They have plenty of fuel and full magazines. Although we just lost a brave Rear Admiral in the Sea Swallow incident, the Frostholm navy is still fully prepared to defend the city-state,” Lister said solemnly. “For more detailed information, my superiors should already have reported to City Hall.”

As he spoke, he looked past the secretary at a few subordinates standing not far away: “What is the situation on the Sea Mist fleet’s side now? Any anomalous moves?”

One commander stood up at once: “Yes, Commander. Something is off. You should take a look at this.”

Hearing this, Lister’s brow furrowed. He walked quickly to the long table in the middle of the room and stopped before a report that had only just been delivered.

“What is this?”

The harbor commander stared in confusion at the sheet full of symbols and marks.

“It’s a light-signal,” the subordinate commander said. “A light-signal from the Sea Mist.”

Lister’s expression went a bit blank. The stimulant essence seemed to stop working for a moment. He looked at the dizzying rows of pause marks and messy notes, and his head actually began to spin. After a long while, he muttered: “What on earth… Is the Sea Mist fleet using some very new light-signal system? Or some kind of classical code?”

He suddenly looked up at his subordinate: “Where is the Military Advisor?”

“They’re in the next room studying this, along with several signal experts and cipher experts we just called in. A few scholars who study classical naval history and the Undying phenomenon are also on their way.”

Lister pressed his lips together, stared at the jumble of symbols for a few seconds, then lifted his head and looked at the worried secretary.

“No one is sleeping tonight.”

“I agree, Colonel,” the secretary said softly.

…

Duncan had slept very well the previous night.

Most of the time, his main body did not really need sleep, but proper rest still helped him keep his energy up and eased the strain of controlling several bodies at once—even if that strain was not much for him.

He simply liked to keep a normal schedule, like an ordinary human.

The snow outside the window had stopped, at least for the moment. No one knew how long the clear sky would last. It stretched over the entire city. Vision 001 was slowly climbing from the edge of the city toward the top of the sky. Along the rim of the brilliant Sun Wheel, a faint golden sheen from twin runes shone with great radiance.

That missing little section of the rune ring was still there, and still clearly visible to the naked eye.

Duncan stood at the window and stared at the chipped Sun Wheel and rune ring for a few seconds. Then he pulled his gaze back and rolled his shoulders.

He went down to the first floor.

Alice had already made breakfast. Simple toast, fried eggs, and vegetable wraps were not exactly a feast, but from them you could tell the doll’s cooking skills were slowly getting better. Vanna and Morris were sitting at the table eating. When they saw Duncan come down, they both stood up.

“Just eat. Don’t mind me,” Duncan said, waving a hand.

The breakfast looked good, but this body could not enjoy it.

Though all his bodies were “temporary shells,” the one he used in Pland’s antique shop was very different from this one in Frostholm. The Pland body had also been taken over after death, but because it had only minor damage and he took it over in time, it now was almost no different from a living person.

But the body he used in Frostholm had already lost most of its inner functions.

It was more like a corpse driven by some mysterious power. In nature, it was closer to a real corpse than the Undying under Tyrian’s command.

Duncan himself could not explain the principles behind it, but this world had far too many strange things. He had long since stopped worrying.

Weird was fine. He was the biggest “weird” thing in this world anyway.

“There’s a fresh paper next to the sofa,” Morris said at the table. “You might want to take a look. There’s news you’ll be interested in.”

“Oh?” Duncan walked to the sofa and saw the morning paper that had just been delivered. It still smelled slightly of ink. The sheets were stacked neatly. He picked them up, sat down on the sofa, opened the paper, and quickly found the article Morris had mentioned.

Alice came over with a clacking sound, stuck her head over the back of the sofa, and peered at the paper in Duncan’s hands with curiosity: “What does the headline sa—”

Click.

A round head fell onto Duncan’s newspaper and then rolled down onto his arm.

The head flipped over. Alice lay on her back, face up, looking straight at Duncan. She blinked innocently: “Hel… hel… help…”

“Can you please try to learn something?” Duncan sighed and picked up Alice’s head with almost resigned skill. He straightened the golden wig tied down with a cord and the silver hair underneath, then pressed the pretty head back onto the custom-built doll body her “Brother” had made. “Even Dog can read the paper now, and you can’t even understand the headline?”

Alice hurried to hold her head steady and muttered in embarrassment: “It’s just four or five words I don’t know…”

“There are eight words in the headline,” Duncan said, glaring at her.

The illiterate doll: “…Hehe.”

“It’s a warning notice from City Hall,” Duncan sighed. He felt that arguing seriously with this silly girl was nothing but exhausting, so he pointed at the words on the paper and read them one by one for Alice. “Notice to citizens, reduce going out—then the article tells Frostholm residents not to go near the coast in the near future. They should avoid gathering on public roads, be ready at all times to cooperate with inspections by constables or Guardians, and the curfew level has been raised. Now, except for Church staff and people who hold special night work permits, no one is allowed to leave their home at night.”

Alice walked around the sofa and sat down next to Duncan. She leaned over to stare at the words on the page. Her head turned wherever his finger moved. After reading the whole thing once, she finally lifted her head in confusion: “What does it mean?”

“It means Tyrian has put on enough pressure,” Duncan said calmly. “Next, unless something unexpected happens, Frostholm’s external traffic will be sealed. That way we don’t have to worry about the city’s corruption leaking out. The Annihilators hiding here will no longer be able to contact the outside world.

“On the other hand, the denunciation letter I sent seems to have stirred up the Church. A higher curfew level and strict travel bans mean tighter heretic screening. More Annihilators will slip up.”

“Then… is the whole thing solved?” Alice asked, eyes wide with surprise. “Will all the bad people be caught?”

“How could it be that simple?” Duncan shrugged. “Catching a few Annihilators is only the beginning. As more of them are caught, their method of connecting with the Deep Sea might be exposed. That’s when the real problem will finally be dug out.”

As he spoke, he folded the newspaper and set it aside.

He had skimmed the remaining articles. There was nothing else worth much attention.

“Then… what are we going to do next?” Alice asked.

“Since Frostholm’s authority is busy, we should go out and move around too,” Duncan said, standing up and looking toward the dining room. “After breakfast, we’ll go out—we’re going to say hello to an ‘informant’ working under Tyrian.”